BULLY BOYS IN BLUE

The Joburg high court has awarded R275,000 in damages against the police for harassment and the abuse of power

Are the police moving to include bribery as a regular part of their operations? Or is the case of Boccaccio Bhekumuzi Nhlapo a one-off?

Nhlapo told the high court in Joburg last month that he was home watching TV one November evening in 2019 when he heard the dogs barking and saw a group of about seven police officers trying to get into his property.

Was he “Thabiso”, they asked. To prove he wasn’t, he showed his ID, driver’s licence, proof of address and a work service certificate. The police photographed all these documents and searched his house.

Then, Nhlapo said, their interest shifted to his 2006 Citi Golf. After a cursory inspection, the police said the chassis number had been tampered with and they were going to impound it. Unless he paid them R10,000, of course — if he did that they’d leave him and his car alone.

When Nhlapo refused their invitation, he and his car were taken away. At the Kagiso police station he was read his rights and put in a cell.

Though the police told him he would appear in court the following day, this didn’t happen. In fact, he was released only after spending two days in a stinking, overcrowded police cell. And, in what sounds suspiciously like a personal vendetta, he still hasn’t got his car back.

The investigating officer told Nhlapo there is nothing unlawful about his car, but when he tried to follow up as to its whereabouts and when he would get it back, he heard that it would be a long wait: because he had brought a case against the police, he wasn’t going to get the car back until the case was finalised.

Nhlapo testified that he felt bad about having been arrested for no reason. He had lost trust in the police, he said: they searched his house without a warrant, took away his freedom and asked for a bribe.

Nhlapo wanted damages, but the police seemed just as determined to fight the claim. Then, at the last minute, the police conceded the merits, no longer disputing any of the facts Nhlapo had relayed to the court.

In fact, when his case was argued, the police put up no witness and no alternative version.

The only issue that seemed to interest them was how to persuade the court to award Nhlapo

R80,000 instead of the R250,000R300,000 that he had claimed in damages.

And the only line of questioning put to Nhlapo was whether the award for which he asked wasn’t disproportionately high. Wouldn’t R80,000 be more than enough?

Definitely not, Nhlapo said, given the abuse and trauma he had suffered thanks to the police.

‘Corroding the system’

In her ruling, judge Susannah Cowen said she had to consider the constitutional rights that had been infringed — the rights to dignity, freedom, security of the person and privacy, among others.

Nhlapo’s uncontested evidence established that the police had acted from an improper motive: the very people who should uphold and enforce the law, who should protect and secure the inhabitants of SA and their property, wanted to be paid a bribe.

Nhlapo also established that the police continued to deprive him of his property without justification — all because he had exercised his rights.

The judge found these factors warranted an award of R275,000: multiple constitutional rights were violated through sustained harassment and an abuse of power by those entrusted to protect society. That the police had solicited a bribe and then kept Nhlapo’s car were aggravating features of the story.

According to Cowen, the damages award should reflect the collective condemnation of society. The police’s conduct went beyond illegality: it seriously undermined the rule of law, “corroding the systems we rely upon to protect us”.

There’s been no apology or indication that the officers involved are to be prosecuted, so you have to wonder: will bribery demands join the other forms of abuse regularly associated with the police?

The police’s conduct went beyond illegality: it seriously undermined the rule of law